I GUNNED MY EXPLORER, careening through a red light on Ness heading toward Geary. The Palace of the Legion of Honor was all the way out at Lands End. Even without traffic, I was ten minutes away.

I punched in Molinari's number. His cell phone wasn't accepting.

I tried to get patched through to the Chief. One of his assistants answered and said he was out in the crowd. "The vice president is coming in the room at this very moment," he said. "There he is."

"Listen to me!" I shouted as I swerved, siren blaring, through parting traffic. "I want you to find Tracchio or Moli-nari, whomever you see first. Put this phone in their ear. This is a matter of national emergency. I don't care who the hell they're talking with! Go! Now!"

My eyes flashed to the clock on my dash. A bomb could go off at any time. All we had was a thirty-year-old likeness to identify Charles Danko. I wasn't sure if I could pick him out myself.

A minute passed very slowly. Then a voice crackled back over my cell phone. Molinari. Finally.

"Joe," I said into the phone, "just listen, please. Charles Danko's there! Right now! He's going by the name Jeffrey Stanzer. He's a............